1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to portable window cleaning stations and more particularly to portable window cleaning stations for motor vehicles and more particularly for portable windshield cleaning stations for family and personal size automobiles.
2. Description of the Related Art
Squeegee, squilgee, or sometimes squimjim, is a known tool with a smooth rubber (or similar material) blade, used to remove or control the flow of liquid on a flat surface. Rubber and rubber-like materials will herein collectively be referred to as “rubber.” It is used for cleaning, such as the cleaning of motor vehicle windshields and windows. For purposes of this document, a windshield will be considered as one sort of motor vehicle window, and even a windshield on a motorcycle will be considered as a motor vehicle “window” despite the fact that the motorcycle is not enclosed. From time to time, squeegees are used by consumers because it is necessary to periodically clean windows, and, in the case of a vehicle, to clean the windshield and other vehicle windows.
One known type of squeegee is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 7,617,560 (“Argo”). Reference numbers used in this discussion of Argo relate to the Argo reference and not to the drawings of this document. The Argo squeegee includes telescoping handle 102, 110, a squeegee head and a hinged joint 104. As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B of Argo, because the handle telescopes, and further because the squeegee head is pivotally supported by the hinged joint, the Argo squeegee can be collapsed into a relatively small space when not in use. Argo does not disclose an integrated scraper blade at one end of the squeegee.
Many service stations are equipped with squeegee stations, a squeegee station being comprised of a squeegee with both a rubber blade and a reservoir of cleaning solution, for cleaning vehicle windshields and windows. While effective in cleaning windshields and other windows, squeegee stations are not made available by every service station. Where they are provided, the squeegee equipment is sometimes in disrepair and/or the cleaning solution is of insufficient volume and/or excessively dirty, making the cleaning of the window surfaces ineffective or less efficient. Also, more than one motorist wants to use the squeegee at the same time causing traffic congestion at the fuel pumps.
As will be discussed below, portable, personal squeegee stations have been made, presumably to help address some of these problems. However, these have failed to catch on in a major way with the motoring public. For example, a squeegee can be transported in a vehicle with a spray bottle of cleaning solution to be used in conjunction with a squeegee. This can be considered as a portable squeegee station on some sense and will herein be called a “spray bottle squeegee station.” A spray bottle squeegee station has certain drawbacks. One drawback is that applying the cleaning solution using a spray bottle requires much more time and energy, and is less efficient and comprehensive than using a dunked squeegee (that includes a sponge) to get cleaning fluid onto the window and also to remove soiled cleaning solution from the window and window frame. Another drawback is that a squeegee is most effective when it is dunk-cleaned intermittently during the window cleaning process, so that the sponge and/or rubber blade can remain as clean as the cleaning solution in the reservoir will permit.
Another potential type of portable squeegee station might be made by simply removing a squeegee station from its fixture at the service station and putting that in the motor vehicle. However, this is not a workable solution. Pre-existing squeegee stations of the type found in service stations should not be stored in a vehicle immediately after use because they will not generally stand on a flat horizontal surface and further because (even if these stations could stand flat) cleaning fluid is bound to get all over the place due to spillage off of the squeegee or out of the reservoir as the vehicle is subject to mechanical shocks that occur during normal operation of a motor vehicle.
In the case of using an existing squeegee in conjunction with a bucket or other reservoir of cleaning solution in order to clean the windows, mirrors, and other glass surfaces at a fixed structure such as a house, both the reservoir and the squeegee, either separately or together, can be cumbersome to transport from one location to another, and, additionally, there is the risk of spilling or dripping the aqueous cleaning solution onto flooring or other surfaces, which is undesirable, particularly when indoors. For these reasons it may be perceived as being not convenient to prepare and transport a reservoir of aqueous cleaning solution each time one desires to clean glass surfaces, especially if one wishes to clean only one or two windows/glass surfaces within the house or other structure. Although this idea that one does not want to carry a big bucket of fluid around for a small (but frequently occurring) cleaning, such as cleaning the windshield, it is believed that most people have an alternative understanding of the logistics on this point and that is why people don't squeegee their car windows at home with a bucket, but instead opt for somewhat inferior window cleaning methods, such as spray bottle and cloth.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,854,910 (“Leblanc”) discloses a portable squeegee station. All Fig. numbers and reference numerals used in this discussion of Leblanc refer to LeBlanc and not this document. the Leblanc station includes a squeegee 30 and a cleaning fluid reservoir chamber (or “housing”) 20. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 of Leblanc, the handle of the squeegee telescopes in order to allow it to fit within the interior space of the housing. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 of Leblanc, the housing includes a pivoting lid 25 which can be closed to prevent escape of the cleaning fluid L from the stowed squeegee and/or reservoir of fluid. Leblanc discloses that its portable squeegee station is sufficiently small and light to be carried in a vehicle on a regular basis during ordinary driving.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,758,331 (“DeHart”) discloses a truck windshield washing station. All Fig. numbers and reference numerals used in this discussion of DeHart refer to DeHart and not this document. It is not clear whether this station is sufficiently small and light to be feasibly transported on a regular basis in a passenger vehicle. The station of DeHart includes a full size squeegee and a chamber that can hold both cleaning fluid and the squeegee (when not in use). As shown in FIG. 5 of DeHart, the reservoir chamber of Dehart includes a pivoting lid to hold the fluid in, similar to the pivoting lid discussed above in connection with Leblanc.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,311,458 (“Verlin”) discloses a portable squeegee station. All claim numbers, Fig. numbers and reference numerals used in this discussion of Verlin refer to Verlin and not this document. The Verlin station includes container 16 and a squeegee (including a handle 12, 34 and lid 18). The Verlin squeegee has two detachably attachable components. One component is made up of the squeegee head, a first segment of the handle and the lid. This component is structured such that the first handle segment extends from the center of the underside of the lid at a first end to a pivoting mechanical connection with the squeegee head at its second end. The other component of the Verlin squeegee, called detachable portion 34, is a second segment of the handle. When the Verlin station is in the stored configuration (see FIG. 3) the lid seals cleaning fluid inside the interior space of the container. Verlin discloses that the lid may be detachably attached to the container by a compression fit or by threaded engagement. In the storage configuration (i) the head of the squeegee is pivoted so that the central axis of the squeegee head and the central axis of the squeegee handle at least substantially coincide; (ii) the squeegee head and first handle segment hang down from the underside of the lid into the interior space of the container and the cleaning fluid that it contains; (iii) the extension segment is detached from its threaded engagement with the lid; (iv) the extension segment resides in a recess provided in the outer surface of the container. In the cleaning configuration: (i) the lid is detached from the container; (ii) the component of the squeegee including the lid and squeegee head is pulled away from the container so that the squeegee head is removed from the interior space of the container; (iii) the squeegee head is pivoted to be perpendicular to the first handle segment; (iv) the second handle segment is screwed into threaded engagement with a threaded hole in the top surface of the lid to form a squeegee with a relatively long handle that has a lid interposed in the handle.
It is believed that there are certain disadvantages to the Verlin design including the following: (i) lid subject to accidental removal (potentially resulting in cleaning fluid spillage) especially when station is regularly transported in a motor vehicle where it is subject to mechanical shocks and vibration; (ii) design requires a guide wall 22 with apertures 24 (see claims 1 and 8) making the interior space of the container difficult to clean; (iii) design requires a guide wall 22 with apertures 24 making the station subject to failure of this upstanding, unsupported guide wall; (iv) detachable portion 34 is secured to the container by a tether which potentially could interfere with other objects when the station is moved, and can also complicate unscrewing of the lid 18 from container 16 and can complicate the screwing of the lid and detachable portion to each other; (v) because the squeegee head must pivot so that its central axis coincides with that of the first handle segment the squeegee is difficult to manufacture; and (vi) because the squeegee head must pivot so that its central axis coincides with that of the first handle segment the squeegee is subject to failure.
The following published documents may also include helpful background information: (i) U.S. Pat. No. 6,036,388 (“Atcher”); (ii) U.S. Pat. No. 4,143,792 (“Rex”); (iii) U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,470 (“Jacobs”); (iv) US patent application 2006/0115316 (“Verlin 2”); (v) U.S. Pat. No. 7,766,258 (“Barniak, Jr.”); (vi) U.S. Pat. No. 6,360,884 (“Smith”); (vii) U.S. Pat. No. 6,007,129 (“Kearney, Jr.”); (viii) U.S. Pat. No. 6,135,276 (“French”); (ix) US Patent Publication No. 2005/0005949(“Boggess”); (x) US Patent Publication No. 2009/0185851 (“Mapalo”); (xi) U.S. Pat. No. 4,312,093 (“Raab”); (xii) U.S. Design Pat. No. 57,656 (“Alden”); (xiii) U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,017 (“Mallory”); (xiv) Great Britain Patent Document No. 917,564 (“Spaker”); (xv) U.S. Pat. No. 6,227,737 (“Lightfoot”); (xvi) US Patent Publication No. 2006/0029458 (“Jones”); (xvii) U.S. Pat. No. 6,301,740 (“Quiroz”); and (xviii) U.S. Pat. No. 4,903,869 (“McKenna”). Some additional background information is that there is an unpublished U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/665,666 (“Portable Window Cleaning Device For Vehicle”), now abandoned, that was made by the present inventor.
Description of the Related Art Section Disclaimer: To the extent that specific publications and/or unpublished background information are discussed above in this Description of the Related Art Section, these discussions should not be taken as an admission that the discussed publications (for example, published patents) are prior art for patent law purposes. For example, some or all of the discussed publications may not be sufficiently early in time, may not reflect subject matter developed early enough in time, may not have been sufficiently published to qualify as prior art, and/or may not be sufficiently enabling so as to amount to prior art for patent law purposes. To the extent that specific publications are discussed above in this Description of the Related Art Section, they are all hereby incorporated by reference into this document in their respective entirety(ies).